Seal bores are frequently used downhole to isolate zones or to facilitate the operation of accessory or auxiliary equipment. They can be accessed by a tool on a string that is placed into position by means of wireline services or coiled tubing. The tool can have external seals that interact with the seal bore to get a fluid tight seal. Thereafter, other tools can be passed through the seal bore or fluids that have erosive characteristics. Over time, there can be damage from these activities to the surface of the seal bore. In the past this has required pulling the string that includes the seal bore or taking other measures that decrease drift diameter by inserting another bore within the existing bore or decreasing pressure rating of the tubular by simply machining a larger bore at the location of the original bore.
Illustrative of techniques for creating a seal bore downhole are US Application 2004/0112609 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,615. U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,758 illustrates adhering strips of material to the well interior and of general interest to this field are U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,910,537; 5,009,265; 6,679,328; 4,542,797; 4,482,014; 6,439,313; 4,455,789; 5,743,335; 2,280,769; 5,351,758; JP 07252986 and EP 0549821.
The present invention allows repair of damaged seal bores in place. It fills in voids or cracks and polishes them to the requisite tolerance so that a troublesome or leaking seal bore can again be serviceable without removal from the well. These and other features of the present invention will become more clear to those skilled in the art from a review of the detailed description and the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is in the appended claims.